War Games
by ro-iro38
Summary: Sesshoumaru and the boys play a friendly game of war at recess, but Rin and the girls aren't giving up so easily. Who will be the victor in this epic battle in the feuding preschool?
1. Meet the Kids

AW! Just imagine the baby gang! Disclaimer: All characters are property of Rumiko Takahashi & Co.

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"Now, Sesshoumaru can I trust you to be good? I mean, if I turn my back for two minutes, can you ensure me that the place _won't_ be upside down when I turn around again?"

Sesshoumaru looked up at the woman with an impeccable scowl, one that was usually unfitting of a child of four, but which somehow looked as if it _belonged_ there. "Mommy," he said gravely. "I'm not bad. If the school turns upside down, it will be because of some other children, not me."

The woman, Sesshoumaru's mother, gave a short bark of laughter and ruffled her son's hair, much to his dislike. "How could I even think to accuse my _big boy_ of such actions?" seeing the scowl again, she laughed louder. Kneeling before him, she pulled him into a hug and then kissed his forehead. "Have a great time at your first day of school, honey! Izayoi will be right here at exactly 2:15 to pick you up!"

Sesshoumaru nodded. "Okay. Bye mommy." He squeezed her hand, more for her since he knew she would be having a 'time'. After a moment, he let go and she gave him a gentle push in the direction of the small school building. Sesshoumaru watched her face closely as he walked up to the red painted door—wondering if she'd change her mind and decide he was too young for school as he'd suspected she would. But she just got back into her car and was off with a wave.

"Oh well," Sesshoumaru sighed as he stopped on the walk and looked around. He noticed another little girl further up ahead singing loudly and picking flowers.

She turned as if she could feel him staring and smiled brightly, waving a flower filled arm. Running up to the boy, she stopped short and pushed the few wildflowers she had in front of her. "Hi! I'm Rin! It's my first day of school! Is it yours too? What's your name? Do you like the flowers I picked?"

Sesshoumaru stared at the girl in confusion, wondering how this 'Rin' expected him to answer any of her questions if she didn't pause to allow him room to speak. "My name is Sesshoumaru, and yes, this is my first day of school." The girl continued to look at him expectantly and he remembered her last question. "Your flowers are…acceptable." Sesshoumaru didn't want to lie since he didn't really like her flowers; they looked more like weeds to him. So he did what his father did when he wanted to lie to Izayoi—he called it 'acceptable'. Sesshoumaru couldn't really say what acceptable meant, but it alwas seemed to work for his father...

Rin, in turn blinked in confusion. Shrugging, she grabbed his hand and led him inside, tossing her flowers away before they stepped inside. "I'll pick more at recess!"

"Recess?" Sesshoumaru questioned, glaring down at their joined hands, but not pulling away.

"Yeah! My older brother says it's the best time of the day when we get to go outside for an hour and play!" she suddenly stopped bubbling and looked down at her feet shyly, letting go of Sesshoumaru's hand. "Will you play with me at recess?"

Sesshoumaru looked down at the girl and decided her presence was a little better than…acceptable. So he nodded slightly. "Er...okay."

Rin's face lit up with a huge smile! "Yay! We'll have so much fun!" and with that she dashed off with a loud laugh.

Staring after the girl in wonder, Sesshoumaru followed the rest of the children into the classroom at the end of the hall.

"Good morning, children! My name is Ms. Kaida. Welcome to pre-school; you may answer when I call your name and then sit wherever you want."

Sesshoumaru's name was called first. Looking around the spacious room, he decided to sit in exactly the middle. Settling into the low desk, Sesshoumaru calmly placed his little backpack by his feet and folded his hands on top of the wooden desk before him. Then, golden eyes turned back to the crowd of children gathered at Kaida-san's feet. Within no time, most of the desks around him were filled. Most of the kids around were boys, and the ever observant Sesshoumaru could name them all. Directly to his left was a boy named Hiten with black hair that was braided down his back. Behind Hiten was his brother Manten, who had significantly less hair. To his right sat a boy named Miroku, who had already made 'friends' with most of the girls in the class. In front of him was a girl named Kagura, who bragged about a fan that she said her father had brought her from China. Behind sat a boy named Bankotsu; otherwise, Sesshoumaru could successfully identify Kikyou, Ayame, Kouga, Shippou, Kaede, Sango, Naraku and of course, Rin.

Unfortunately, Rin was sitting a row over and all the way at the front of the room. She had turned and given him the most heartbreaking look he'd ever seen. It wasn't in his nature, but Sesshoumaru gave her a half-hearted smile and hoped that she would stop looking at him so forlornly.

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Yay! We've met the kids. I was going to make this a one-shot, but then it would be hugely long, so it'll be chaptered. I hope you enjoyed it, even though this chapter was...not really funny or anything. Please review...and the next chapter will be forthcoming! 


	2. Broken Promise

"Hey…Shessoumaru, right?"

Sesshoumaru turned around, his foot halfway out the door to see Bankotsu smirking at him smugly. "Uhm, no. Actually its _Sesshoumaru_." He corrected.

"Yeah whatever." Bankotsu shrugged carelessly. "Come on, we're playing cops and robbers today!"

Sesshoumaru looked bewildered at this 'game', as Bankotsu called it. He considered inquiring further, but decided not to since he'd already promised to play with Rin at recess and it wouldn't matter what silly game they were playing. "Actually, I'm not—"

However, Bankotsu wasn't paying attention. "Come on, hurry up!" he grabbed Sesshoumaru's arm, pulling him out the door behind him. "We're gonna end up being stuck as cops if we don't get out there!" Bankotsu screamed, charging through the large yard, not caring of what or who he ran through.

Sesshoumaru trotted clumsily along behind him, trying to keep his feet on the ground long enough to stop and regain his footing. "Hey!" a girlish voice stopped them both and Sesshoumaru breathed a sigh of relief. It was Rin. "Hi, Sesshoumaru," she grinned before frowning at Bankotsu. "What do you think you're doing??"

Bankotsu sneered. "We're going to go play cops'n robbers, so get out of our way!" he moved to take off with his grip still firm around Sesshoumaru's arm when Rin suddenly reached out and grasped his hand.

"But Sesshoumaru told me he would play with _me_ today!" she whined, pulling slightly.

Bankotsu laughed. "You must be crazy! No boy would wanna play with you!"

Rin's face grew indignant and she tugged even harder on Sesshoumaru's hand, her brows knitted in anger. "And why not?!"

"Cause you're a _GIRL_ and girls are GROSS!" Bankotsu screamed, pulling back. "Right, Sessh?"

Sesshoumaru looked at Bankotsu, then at Rin and for the first time felt uncertainty enter his mind. He would later learn to call this 'peer pressure'. Rin stared at Sesshoumaru, waiting for him to denounce Bankotsu's ridiculous claim; when he said nothing, tears began to well up in her eyes. "But you _promised_."

Sesshoumaru could only stare as her lovely face crumpled and she dissolved into sniffles, obviously trying hard not to cry in front of them. "See? Told ya, we're too cool to hang out with _girls_." Bankotsu sneered again and pulled, this time not being restricted from movement by Rin. The hurt in Rin's eyes almost made Sesshoumaru stop Bankotsu from pulling him away, but she turned and ran away before he could do so. "Stupid girl," Bankotsu muttered to which Sesshoumaru gave a less than half-hearted "Yeah,"

"Hey you!" Sesshoumaru squinted up at the woman that was standing in front of the school, waiting for him.

"Hi, Izayoi." He replied glumly. This game 'Cops and Robbers' had been less than satisfactory and what's worse, he'd sacrificed what could have possibly been a peaceful afternoon with Rin for running around with a bunch of boys that couldn't properly organize games dealing with crime and punishment. After recess had ended, Sesshoumaru had tried several times to talk to Rin, to apologize and explain himself, but she'd gone and told Kagura of his broken promise, who'd formed a human girl-wall around her. "Well now, what's the matter Sesshoumaru?" Izayoi bent down, sensing how upset her stepson was.

Sesshoumaru blinked at her slowly before turning, his eyes landing on Rin. She was standing about fifteen feet away, hugging the arm of a boy much older than she; he could only guess that was the older brother she'd spoken of. He moved forward as if to approach Rin but her eyes narrowed and she stuck her tongue out. He gasped slightly and turned when he heard Izayoi chuckle. "Whatever you did, I'm sure it'll be better tomorrow," Izayoi reassured as she took his hand and led further down the block until Rin's form could no longer be seen.

Hopefully Izayoi was right and Sesshoumaru would have better luck with Rin tomorrow.


	3. It All Falls Apart

Sesshoumaru shuffled his feet in what, he supposed was nervousness. It was a new day and hopefully his luck with his fellow and flower-picking classmate would be better than that of the previous day. His gaze perked up as he saw Rin and the boy from before walking up to the gate. He leaned down and gave her a hug before giving her slight push in Sesshoumaru's general direction. When their eyes connected, Rin smiled, but the look suddenly faltered. Wondering what she was looking at, Sesshoumaru turned around to see Kagura shaking her head negatively at Rin. Her eyes slid to Sesshoumaru and she stuck her tongue out at him. "You're just as mean as the other boys! Well we're not gonna let you bully Rin. Come on!" by this time, Rin had reached the pair and was looking between the two as if trying to decide who to go with.

Sesshoumaru could easily place the dilemma flashing across her face; smiling slightly, he hoped that she would at least listen to what he had to say. Unfortunately, she allowed Kagura to grab her arm and lead her away. Sesshoumaru let his head hang low and sighed heavily; hopefully he'd have better luck a recess.

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By the time recess rolled around, though, it was clear that the misunderstanding between Rin and Sesshoumaru had escalated to full scale girls versus boys battle. They had split themselves right down the middle; all the girls sat on one side of the room and the boys on the other, jeering at each other and cutting each other down every chance they got.

Rin and Sesshoumaru, the precipitators of all this, were sitting in their seats, glancing at each other every now and then. However, they never were given the chance to talk to one another since every time a girl looked at a boy or a boy looked at a girl, paper balls and insults would fly across the room in whispers behind Ms. Kaida's back.

"Psst! Hey, Sessh!" Sesshoumaru turned around at Kouga's beckoning. "Come over here!" It was only then that Sesshoumaru actually noticed that all the boys were huddled around in a circle whispering. A withering glance was his answer. "Just get over here!" Kouga hissed and with a heavy sigh, Sesshoumaru complied.

He had a _really_ bad feeling about this.

"So…what do you want?"

Hiten smirked this time. "We got some balloons and water guns for recess today!"

Sesshoumaru's dry stare elicited a few groans of exasperation. "And we're gonna get those dumb girls _really good_."

"Why?"

"Be_cause_ they're GIRLS!" Manten whined, fingering his hair self-consciously.

"The plan is to come at them when they aren't expecting it, got it guys?"

Sesshoumaru scoffed. "_That's_ your plan? How stupid."

Kouga frowned. "Well I don't see you tryin to help! Can you come up with anything better?"

Sesshoumaru frowned. If they actually listened to him, then their crime and punishment game could actually be worth his time. Neither his mother nor Izayoi knew about the books his father read to him often times at night; as a result, Sesshoumaru was enamored of war games. Coming up with a strategy for this lot…it'd be simple and would probably even get Sesshoumaru some time to talk to Rin and straighten the whole mess out. "Fine," he conceded, ignoring the small voice in the back of his mind warning against these actions.

Rin was playing in the sandbox today, and even though she wasn't alone, Sesshoumaru figured he would have more luck without his idiotic male classmates. Approaching the red box, he gave Rin a small smile to which she responded with one of her own. However, some movement in the bushes behind her caught his attention and his eyes widened. Before he could call out a warning, Hiten, Manten and Kouga burst from the bushes and with loud yells and water guns.

And then mayhem broke. All the boys leapt out from their hiding places and bombarded the girls with water balloons and water guns. Sesshoumaru's eyes widened as everything fell apart around him.

Ms. Kaida jumped up from her seat on the bench and desperately began trying to pull the yelling boys off the screaming and crying girls.

Oh dear, this didn't turn out right at all.

For the rest of the day, Ms. Kaida was forced to dry off a group of sniffling little girls and try to prevent them all from getting colds. The boys were too busy with self-congratulations to heed Ms. Kaida's scolding. And then, Kouga made the mistake of lumping in Sesshoumaru in with their wretched posse of marauders. "Good job with distractin' the girls, Sessh!"

A startled gasp escaped Rin's lips. Why was she around to hear that? Her lower lip began to quiver and her eyes glazed over with tears as a single heartbreaking whimper broke free from her throat. "Sesshoumaru?"

"Rin, I'm sorry—" Sesshoumaru tried, but luck just was against him.

"_YOU!_" An enraged and highly feminine voice squeaked. "If it's a war you want, Sesshoumaru Taisho, it's a war you'll get!" Kagura gave Sesshoumaru perhaps the frostiest glare he'd ever seen on a girl and grasped Rin's hand, dragging her away.

Sesshoumaru heaved a deep sigh, and when Izayoi came to pick him up from what was possibly the longest day in his entire four years of life, he glared up at her. "You were wrong."

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Enjoying it? I most certainly hope so. I'm going to take a break now, but the next three chapters will be out Monday...I'm going to be on a roadtrip, but I'll have my laptop with me so I'll have all the chapters done then! 


	4. A Dish Best Served Muddy

Izayoi quirked an eyebrow at her stepson. "I was wrong?"

Sesshoumaru nodded gravely as they began to walk home. "I was trying to tell Rin I was sorry, but now all the boys and girls hate each other. The boys threw water balloons at all the girls and now everybody thinks I helped plan it."

Izayoi looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, did you?"

Sesshoumaru scoffed. "No, cause their games are stupid. I told them to…to 'anbush' their enemies," Sesshoumaru struggled over a word he'd heard in a recent 'bedtime story'. It was an easy concept to understand, though he didn't think the other boys would actually understand what it was and do it.

"Ambush their enemies, huh? Sesshoumaru, where did you learn that?" Izayoi's brow was arched in suspicion.

Suddenly, Sesshoumaru's face went blank and he blinked innocently up at his stepmother. "TV."

"Right," Izayoi murmured more to herself.

Finally, they arrived at their large home and Izayoi ushered him into the kitchen to prepare him an after-school snack. "Well," she said slowly as she moved around the kitchen. "It seems like you've made a bit of a mess of things even though you didn't mean to. I think that tomorrow you should apologize to all the girls, and don't let the boys make you feel bad about it, either. There's nothing wrong with having friends that are girls—I'm sure some of them wished they could be friends with the other girls, too."

It was with this advice that Sesshoumaru steadfastly decided upon his plan of action the next day. He didn't care what anybody else did, but he was going to set things straight between himself and Rin. As he walked into the classroom, he was surprised to see that everything was mostly normal—he'd been expecting some sort of full scale war or something. All the girls were sitting at their desks whispering and giggling with each other. As Sesshoumaru approached Rin, he felt someone grab his arm. Turning, he was surprised to see Kagura smiling at him. "Hi…Kagura."

Kagura blushed and then giggled again, which was weird since she seemed like she had wanted to bite his head off the day before. "Hi Sesshoumaru!" she looked down and began to shuffle her feet shyly. "Would you…play with me at recess today?"

Shocked wasn't the word. Astonished is more like it. For a moment he could only stare dumbly, but then he shook his head. "But I want to—"

"YAY!" She cheered. "We can play on the seesaw today!" Then, Kagura ran off to her seat, leaving a dumbfounded Sesshoumaru. What had just happened? Turning back to Rin, Sesshoumaru was not surprised to see a look on her face that indicated that she'd heard everything. Sesshoumaru was really used to this sort of luck.

As he resigned himself to sit at his desk without talking to Rin, he noticed that all his other male classmates were unusually quiet. "What's the matter with you guys?"

Hiten spoke up first. "Kikyou asked me to play with her at recess and she wouldn't let even say no first!"

"Yeah, an' I gotta play with Ayame," Kouga grumbled.

Miroku smiled. "I get to play with Sango and I can't wait!"

Bankotsu rolled his eyes. "Miroku, you're such a girl lover!"

An argument ensued, but Sesshoumaru had long since tuned it out; the girls were up to something, but until recess, it was impossible to know what it was.

When recess came, Sesshoumaru decided that breaking his promise to Kagura in order to talk to Rin was well worth whatever horrible thing Kagura could think to do to him. As he stepped outside, he noticed that every boy was with a girl, and although this was very interesting, he decided not to care.

Rin was playing on the swing by herself. Perfect. "SESSHOUMARU! OVER HERE!"

Sesshoumaru couldn't help but cringe at Kagura's loud yell. "Oh no!" he muttered under his breath as Kagura ran over to him and began to drag him to the seesaw. Kami-sama was against him. "Kagura, I want to play with—"

Kagura, however, was completely ignoring him. "Before we play, I wanna give you something."

"Huh?" Sesshoumaru was completely confused; why was Kagura being so nice? In fact, as he looked around the playground, _all_ the boys had the same confused looks on their face. Kagura's face split into a mischievous grin and she leaned forward quickly, planting a kiss on his cheek loudly. Then, so fast that Sesshoumaru was dizzy, she shoved a handful of mud in his face.

"AH!!!" And again, Ms. Kaida was on her feet, this time trying to get the mud out of all the boy's eyes, their shirts and even their pants. All the girls were laughing at the muddy boys, Kagura the most.

"That'll teach you stupid boys!" she grinned triumphantly.

This whole thing was getting out of control, Sesshoumaru decided as he greeted his mother at the gate to the pre-school. "Sesshoumaru! What in the world happened?!" his mother bent down and ran her fingers through his muddy hair.

"The girls. Mommy, why are you picking me up?" Sesshoumaru was not in the mood to explain why he was dirty; so he decided to change the subject.

Sesshoumaru's mother grasped his hand and led him down the street in the direction of his father's house. "Izayoi had to take Inuyasha to the doctor and your fathers on a conference call. So you aren't going to tell me what happened?"

Sesshoumaru shook his head. "I just want to take a bath."

"Of course, dear," knocking on the door, she was surprised to see her ex-husband open it.

"Sesshoumaru…what happened to you?" His father looked down at him with a face that highly resembled his mothers when she had first seen him.

"He doesn't want to talk about it," his mother answered for him as she bent down and gave him a kiss. "Think you can handle giving him a bath or should I cancel my appointment?" she laughed at the look on his face and shook her head.

Sesshoumaru watched his mother go to her car in the driveway and then he looked up his father. "Let me guess," the older Taisho grinned as he picked him up and carried him into the bathroom. "Girl problems?"

"I guess," he shrugged as his father simultaneously ran bath water and stripped him of his dirty clothing.

His father chuckled. "Well, son. I never thought I'd have to help you with those at _this_ age, but then again, you're just like your old man! All the girls in my class loved me!"

Sesshoumaru blinked at his father. "The girls don't actually love me, daddy."

"Really?" the older man looked skeptical for a moment. "That's strange," he murmured more to himself than to anyone else. "Well what's the problem, kiddo?"

Sesshoumaru sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to _not_ tell his father. And so he began to relate the events of the past few days. By the end of the tale, Sesshoumaru had been cleaned, dressed and had eaten half of a peanut butter jelly sandwich. "I see,"

"What should I do?" Sesshoumaru knew his father would give him some sound advice.

"She like flowers?" Sesshoumaru's eyes lit up. How could he have forgotten? "Pretty much every woman likes flowers. Throw in a heartfelt apology and you're all good, Sessh."

"Flowers," Sesshoumaru murmured to himself, with hopes that finally the Gods would give him a break.

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I lied. I didn't get to work on this story this weekend. So by Wednesday. I don't like this chapter...maybe I'll revisit it. Probably not. Anyway, review and know that the next chapter will be the last...


	5. Ignorance is Bliss

"A bouquet?!" Sesshoumaru's mother gaped down at her son as they sat in front of the school in her car.

Sesshoumaru looked at his feet as they swung idly back and forth and nodded, mumbling a brief "Yeah"

The woman chuckled. "I bet this has to do with why you came home all muddy yesterday, huh?" at seeing her son nod, she laughed and unbuckled him and herself. "Well, Sessh, it's a bit late…and perhaps too expensive…for us to run to a florist, but maybe you could find some around the school. If we weren't running so late I would help you pick some, but unfortunately you are late and so am I!" glancing at her watch, here eyes widened.

Sesshoumaru glared up at his mother; he had specifically called her the night before and asked her to pick him up extra early with the idea in mind that he could pick some flowers for Rin and meet her before she went into the school. But she was an irritating woman and she'd shown up extremely late—so late that lessons had already begun. And now he would have to wait until recess (a time of the day that seemed to hold continuous bad luck for the boy) to do anything.

His mother grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the school. However, as the pair passed the same patch of flowers Sesshoumaru had first seen Rin, he resisted her pull and stooped to pick a haste bouquet of random flowers he didn't really even have time to look at. His mother laughed at his persistence and stooped to help her son pick a more suitable and less weedy bit of flowers. "There. The best free bouquet _I've_ ever seen. Now, we're really running late!" she once again grabbed his hand and they rushed into the building.

They stopped at the door and Sesshoumaru paused to stuff the flowers as neatly as he could into his backpack. "Oh my," his mother sighed and rolled her eyes before knocking on the door. Ms. Kaida answered and she explained the situation hurriedly, gave Sesshoumaru a quick kiss and literally ran back to her car.

It took the class a few minutes to settle down after this recent interruption and Sesshoumaru quickly made his way to his seat without looking up. "Hey Sessh!" Hiten whispered. "We're not gonna take this from those girls! My older brother helped me and Manten come up with a plan that's sure to get them good!"

Sesshoumaru was beginning to catch on; if he told them what they wanted to hear, they would shutup and leave him alone a lot faster than if he just ignored them. "Cool. Sounds great. I can't wait to hear the plan," Needless to say, Sesshoumaru's response was lack-luster but it was something and so the boys settled down and resolved to wage the biggest and most decisive battle against the girls yet.

Sesshoumaru hung around the classroom a bit after recess began, grabbing his backpack, flowers and all before dashing out the door. All the girls had gathered on one side of playground, and the boys the other. But Sesshoumaru had learned not to pay attention to the peculiarities of his classmates.

"Rin," he muttered to himself, looking for her face among those of the huddled together girls. He was surprised, however to spot her far from the action; sitting in the sandbox and singing to an ugly little green doll. Across the playground was a long way, especially since he'd have to walk between the boys and girls, risking being caught in the crossfire.

However, as he caught the murmurings of her song, he suddenly decided he didn't care. _"__There's nothing wrong with having friends that are girls—I'm sure some of them wished they could be friends with the other girls, too."_Izayoi's voice echoed through his mind as he steadfastly marched across the playground. He ignored the shouts of both boys and girls alike and stomped with something akin to fury as he grew closer to the obliviously singing girl.

"Hi Rin." She whipped around, her face confused and then surprised.

She looked up at him and squinted her eyes against the sun. "Hi." She replied shortly and her eyes followed his form as he silently sat across from her. "Why aren't you playing with your friends?" she asked quietly as she averted her eyes and stroked the head of her doll once more.

Sesshoumaru shook his head absently. "They aren't really my friends, I don't like them much."

Rin nodded in understanding. "They are kind of pushy; and they always want to play together. I'd much rather sit and play with my doll, Mr. Jaken!" she giggled and twisted the little green dolls arm.

Frowning at the doll's odd name, Sesshoumaru shook off his curiosity and reached into his backpack, fishing out the bouquet he'd quickly picked that morning. At exactly the same moment, something happened back in the playground. Loud yells erupted and Sesshoumaru could faintly detect a flurry of movement somewhere behind Rin. However, as he gazed into her bright chocolate eyes, he couldn't find it in him to care.

Rin squealed at the sight of the flowers and dropped 'Mr. Jaken' in joy. "Oh Sesshoumaru! They're so pretty!"

Sesshoumaru smiled as well, happy to see Rin so enthused. "I…I picked them this morning. I'm sorry about everything that happened."

She grinned again. "That's okay! I knew you weren't like the other boys anyway!"

That was good, Sesshoumaru decided as they passed the rest of recess enjoying one another's company and completely ignoring the epic battle raging a few meters behind them. Sesshoumaru figured as long as he could become good friends with Rim, he would not have to worry about any trivial sort of battles during recess.

* * *

Yay, last chapter--the end. Fini. Au revoir. I enjoyed writing it. I hope you all enjoyed reading it! Thanks so much to my reviewers, your encouragement and comments are, as always, greatly appreciated!

I hope you enjoyed my shameless Jaken guest appreance...it just seems right that Rin should have some sort of Jaken relic. Someone noticed the absence of Inu and Kags. In my mind, putting them in this story would ahve somehow added an extra element of...something, explanation, development. I wanted to keep this simple, prose more than anything else, which I think is clearly reflected in the story. So Inu and Kags can exist as babies that are only mentioned by name only (and really only Inu).


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